The Events of the Day

Published:Proletary, No. 1, August 21, 1906.

      Published according to theProletarytext.Source:Lenin
	  Collected Works,

      Progress Publishers,1965,

      Moscow,Volume 11,

      pages167-169.Translated:Transcription\Markup:R. CymbalaPublic Domain:Lenin Internet Archive

      (2004).You may freely copy, distribute,
	display and perform this work; as well as make derivative and
	commercial works. Please credit “Marxists Internet
	Archive” as your source.•README

“BloodyDay” in Warsaw and other towns of Poland,[2]the attempt on the life of Stolypin and the assassination of Min[3]have all roused universal interest in the question of “guerrilla
actions”—we use the term which has become current among Party
members and legitimised by the resolution of the Unity Congress.

Theeditorial board proposes to publish in the near future an article, or
series of articles, dealing as comprehensively as possible with this extremely
important

			      question.[1]In the meantime, so as not to leave our readers in
ignorance of our views, we shall make the following brief remarks, which in
subsequent articles will be developed in detail and more precisely formulated.

Firstremark. Going to extremes is always bad, and there can be no doubt in the
mind of any socialist that the sentiments of the masses must be taken into
account when organising guerrilla actions. Therefore, we think that it is
absolutely necessary to take into account the opinion of the Bund (evidently in
agreement with the Polish Social-Democrats), which is familiar with the
conditions of work in Warsaw and the sentiments of the masses in that city,
namely, the opinion that the Polish Socialist Party “went too
far”. Whether it did so or not is a question of fact which we are not
competent to decide. It is never advisable to go too far, but it would be wrong
to conclude that because there have been individual cases of “going to
extremes” a certain form of struggle is no good.

Onthe whole, we consider that the intensification of guerrilla warfare in
      Russia after the dissolution of the Duma is a gain. A ruthless guerrilla
      war of extermination against the government’s perpetrators of violence
      appears to us to be timely and expedient.

Secondremark. The Central Committee of our Party is certainly mistaken, and
seriously mistaken, when it says in its footnote to the fourth
“letter” (to the Party organisations): “it goes without
saying that the Party, as heretofore, repudiates so-called ’guerrilla’ militant
actions.”

Thisis incorrect. We abide by the decisions of the Congress, butunder no circumstancesshall we submit to decisions of the Central
Committee whichviolatethe decisions of the Congress. Anyone who takes
the trouble to examine carefully the resolution of the Unity Congress entitled:
“On Guerrilla Actions” will see without any difficulty that our
Partyrepudiatesone form of guerrilla action,recognisesanother, andrecommendsa third.

Itentirely repudiates the expropriation of private property. Itdoes not
repudiatethe expropriation of government funds, but hedges it round withparticularly strictconditions (“if organs of revolutionary power
are formed in the given locality”,etc.).

Further,the resolution of the Congressrecognisesguerrilla actionswithoutexpropriation of property, i.e.,recognises
“terror”, recognisesguerrillaactions for the purpose
of killing the enemy. This recognition is clearly and unambiguously expressed in
the very first words of the resolution, following the preamble:

“TheCongress resolves: (1) recognising thatparallel with[our
italics throughout] the preparation of the revolutionary forces for the coming
uprising, the basis of which is the organisation of the masses of the working
class,an active struggleagainstgovernment terror and the
violence of the Black Hundreds will be inevitable, it is necessary...”
(then follows the prohibition of stealing, the expropriation of private funds,
etc.).

Ourexcerpt from thedecision of the Congressis perfectly
clear. “Parallel with” work among the masses it recognises
“active struggle” against the perpetrators of violence, whichundoubtedly means killing them by means of “guerrilla actions”.

Theonly restrictions that the resolution places onthissecond form of
guerrilla action (the killing of perpetrators of violence) are the following:
“toavoidthe violation of the personal property ofpeacefulcitizensexcept[listen!] in those cases when it is
anunintentionalresult of the struggle against the governmentorwhen, as for instance in building barricades, it is called for by
the exigencies of the immediate struggle.”

Thus,when theimmediate strugglerequires it, the violation of
private property is permissible, e.g., the seizure of vehicles, etc., for
barricades. When there isnoimmediate struggle, the Congress instructs
usto avoiddisturbing the personal safety of “peaceful”
citizens; but the Congress at once points to anexception: it doesnot blameparticipants in guerrilla actions for
“unintentional” disturbance of personal safety resulting from the
struggle against the government.

Lastly,the Congress definitelyrecommendsto the Party a certain form
of guerrilla action, by resolving without qualifications or restrictions that:
“arms and military supplies that belong to the governmentmust be
seized wheneveran opportunity presents itself.”

Forinstance: policemen carry arms that belong to the government. “The
opportunity presents itself....”

Thirdremark. We advise all the numerous fighting groups of our Party to cease
their inactivity and undertake a number of guerrilla actions in strict
conformity with the decision of the Congress, i. e., without any expropriation
of property, with the least possible “disturbance of the personal
safety” of peaceful citizens, but with theutmostdisturbance of
the personal safety of spies,activemembers of the Black Hundreds,
army, navy and police officers,and so on, and so forth. As for
“arms” and “military supplies that belong to the government”,
they “must be seizedwheneveran opportunity presents
itself”.

[1]See pp. 213-23 of this volume.—Ed.

[2]The “bloody day” was August 2 (15),
1906, when attacks on the police were carried out in Warsaw, Lodz, Radom, Plotsk
and other Polish towns. The action was organised by the Polish Socialist Party
(P.P.S.) (see Lenin’s note on “The Guerrilla Action of the Polish
Socialist Party” in this volume, p. 194).

[3]The attempt on the life of Stolypin was carried out by
Socialist-Revolutionary Maximalists on August 12 (25), 1906.

GeneralMin, who was in charge of the suppression of the December armed uprising
in Moscow, was killed by a member of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party on August
13 (26), 1906.